Speaker Suggestions - Room Size/Info Inside.....

[EmptyWallet]

Hello!

We are building a new house, and have decided to add a dedicated theater room. My last experience with HT equipment was around 2001, when I bought my first SVS sub. I think I was still using a Trinitron Flat Screen CRT back then too. LOL.

Back then, I just purchased whatever the latest and greatest gear I could find at Circuit City was (obviously not the SVS Sub!).

The room in question will be 13 feet wide by 18 feet deep. Ceiling will be 10 feet. It will only be used for a home theater, nothing else.

I'm currently budgeting between $6-$7k for speakers and a sub. I very much so enjoyed my old SVS sub I had many years ago, so I naturally checked out what they currently offer. I was surprised to find they have an entire selection of speakers now, some that are very well thought of on the various forums I've been visiting.

So, with that in mind....is there any reason I shouldn't just pick up the Ultra Tower Surround System ($3,700), along with a PB-16 Ultra ($2,500) and call it a day?

99.9% of my use will be HT (movies, TV, games). I honestly can't see us using the room for anything sound (music) related.

Can I do better than the Ultra Tower Surround Systems from SVS, and the PB-16 Ultra from SVS, for $6,200ish? For my intended uses?

 

[j_garcia]

You can get an SVS at Best Buy (Magnolia) now... (and the speakers apparently).

YES you should absolutely consider just going with the Ultra set. I'd say you could definitely call it a day at that point with what you're spec'ing out.

 

[Pogre]

I love you.

 

[lovinthehd]

I would consider multiple subs for better coverage for more seats....perhaps a couple PB12 Plus's instead of a single PB16U.

 

[j_garcia]

I love you.

Your new best friend.

IMO, single Ultra would probably be fine. Room isn't so huge that it would necessarily require duals, though duals would not be out of the question for sure.

 

[EmptyWallet]

Thanks guys! I am now considering dual subs. I have had a few comments that I should check out PSA. I hear there's a guy there that came from SVS.

 

[lovinthehd]

Thanks guys! I am now considering dual subs. I have had a few comments that I should check out PSA. I hear there's a guy there that came from SVS.

Two guys at PSA are ex-SVS, the V of SVS Tom Vodhanel, also Jim Farina.

Also check out Rythmik and Hsu Research....

 

[EmptyWallet]

I've been reading quite a bit about HSU, and have glossed over there site. I need to dig through it with more detail.

 

[Pogre]

I have a pair of Hsu VTF-3 MK5's (price is for 2 of them) and they're totally worth the asking price. I believe you'd be better off with a pair of those than a single PB16 Ultra.

And I can assure you, they play very well with SVS Ultras.

 

[shadyJ]

The SVS system looks very nice, but you should understand how heavy the PB16-Ultra is. It is 176 lbs, and a real chore to move around. It has extremely good deep bass performance. If it were me, and I were intent on buying from SVS, I would get a couple of PC13-Ultra subwoofers, their highest end cylinder subs, or maybe three PC12-Plus cylinder subs. Either of those systems won't cost much more than a PB16-Ultra, and they will have better performance, and they will be a lot easier to manage. Hsu, Rythmik, JTR, and Outlaw Audio also make great subs. You might also look at Deep Sea Sound subwoofers.

 

[EmptyWallet]

Yeah, the more I read, the more I'm thinking of going with a dual sub setup over the single PB16-Ultra.

I'm considering dual subs from PSA, and from HSA, or a single sub from JTR.

 

[shadyJ]

In your situation, I would absolutely get dual subwoofers, hell, get three on your budget. Not because it will get loud but because it will smooth out the overall response across all seats and give you a flat frequency response. In other words, that will give you better sound quality as opposed to simply more quantity. One thing I noticed is that your room is not very big, so you can get by without tower speakers. I would get bookshelf speakers. On the other hand, one nice thing about the Ultra towers is that the woofers are low to the ground, and they are crossed over at 160 Hz. The nice thing about that is they will not suffer from ground bounce, in other words you will get a smoother mid bass response with the Ultra towers than with typical towers or bookshelf speakers. Another solution to that is to use subwoofers as bookshelf speaker stands and cross those subs over at a very high frequency. The MTM design of the woofers vs tweeter will help alleviate similar effects as well. The SVS Ultra speakers are doing a lot right. There are lots of other good speakers out there as well.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

...We are building a new house, and have decided to add a dedicated theater room...The room in question will be 13 feet wide by 18 feet deep. Ceiling will be 10 feet. It will only be used for a home theater, nothing else...

Is this a custom-build house? If so, why not make it a little bigger?

The main reason I built my custom house was because of the HT room, so I made sure I built the size exactly the way I wanted it.

 

[2channel lover]

I've been reading quite a bit about HSU, and have glossed over there site. I need to dig through it with more detail.

After a lot of research, I followed Pogre's lead and also bought two VTF3mk5 subs. Hard to beat this sub's value and performance.

L_garcia is right...the PB16 is plenty of sub for your 2400 cu ft of HT space...my space is roughly 2800 cu ft and the sales guy at HSU said one of these subs will suffice but unless you can give the ideal location there will probably be some "dead zones" and localization. Localization might not bother you much for movies and you did say this would be a dedicated HT...for music, especially critical listening eliminating localization was a big plus for me. Two subs balance that out and you won't have to run them as high.

As far as the mains go...The Ultra Towers for the money seem like a good investment...owners on this forum really like them. In either case good luck.